W Boyes & Co

src: www.boyes.co.uk

Boyes is a chain of department stores in the UK. William Boyes founded the firm in 1881 and it has been run by generations of the Boyes family ever since. It began as one small shop in Scarborough, North Yorkshire selling remnants from merchants. The area was full of poverty and the store was therefore popular with housewives.

Additional stores opened in York and Hull early in the 20th century, with the company then developing a chain of stores throughout Northern England in the following decades.

In recent years, Boyes have also opened several stores in the East Midlands and one in the East of England, although the vast majority are still the North of England including in Kingston upon Hull, which has the most stores, 4 in total, following the opening of their Hull City Centre store in November 2014.

Boyes stores now stock a large range of products including clothing, toys, stationery, babywear, toiletries, housewares, DIY, fishing tackle, footwear, soft furnishings, wool, haberdashery, confectionery and pet products. Some of their larger stores also have a carpet and furniture department and even a cafe.

Its full trading name is W Boyes and Co Ltd, however the stores trade as "Boyes" (pronounced Boys or Boys-es). The company is based at its head office in Eastfield.

The company's slogan is "for good value" and the stores now specialise in the discount retail sector, stocking a mixture of regular lines and one off special purchases and clearance lines. It runs a twice yearly sale and holds other events. It has a presence on social media, but only joined Twitter in 2015.

Video W Boyes & Co

List of stores

Cambridgeshire

March

County Durham

Barnard Castle
Bishop Auckland
Chester-le-Street
Consett
Darlington (with carpet and furniture departments)
Newton Aycliffe

Cumbria

Kendal

Derbyshire

Ripley
Chesterfield
Heanor

East Riding of Yorkshire

Wednesday Market, Beverley
Bridlington (huge store with carpet and furniture departments, cafe and company museum)
Middle Street South, Driffield
Wesley Square, Goole
Bransholme, North Point Shopping Centre in East Hull
Hessle Road, West Hull (larger store with carpet and furniture departments)
Holderness Road, East Hull (larger store with carpet and furniture departments)
Whitefriargate, Hull City Centre (opened November 2014)